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1852 - MILLARD FILLMORE - THE TOTTEN
APPOINTMENT
Appointment
of the 10th Graduate of the First Class at West Point
Item Ref: BSL - Millard Fillmore
President
Millard Fillmore Appoints General Joseph G. Totten, Chief Engineer of
the US, First Head of the Corps of Engineers, Chief Inspector of West
Point, Founder of Smithsonian Institute & National Academy of Sciences
and a noted Conchologist - as an Original Member of the Lighthouse
Board.
Millard Fillmore
MILLARD FILLMORE (1800-1874)
Joseph Totten
Joseph Gilbert Totten was fourteen when he entered West Point's first
Class in 1802. Sixty-two years later his distinguished military career
found him a Major General. He was the longest serving Chief Engineer of
the United States Army and Chief Inspector of West Point. He was a
founder of the Smithsonian, the National Academy of Sciences and the
Lighthouse Board; his fundamental principles for the defense of the
country's seacoast are still studied today. Several times decorated and
promoted for meritorious conduct, Totten served 14 Presidents. Here is
his Very Fine Appointment as a founding member of the Lighthouse Board.
Joseph Gilbert Totten (1788 -1864) Biographical Note
Born
in New Haven, Connecticut 23 August, 1788; died in Washington, D.C., 22
April, 1864. Totten received his earliest education under the direction
of his maternal uncle, Jared Mansfield, by whom he was brought up after
the death of his mother. With his uncle's occupation of the First Chair
of Mathematics at the United States Military Academy the boy received an
appointment from Connecticut as cadet. In 1802 Totten was only fourteen
when he entered the United State Military Academy in its opening year,
He was commissioned a second lieutenant, Corps of Engineers, on July
1, 1805 being the tenth graduate (Cullum #10) of the Academy.
Including his attendance at West Point, his military career spanned
sixty-two years; for the last twenty-six of which he was Chief Engineer
of the Army and Inspector General of West Point.
Totten was engaged in the construction of Castle William and Fort
Clinton in New York harbor, 1808-1812, and promoted to first lieutenant
in July 1810. With the outbreak of the War of 1812 he advanced to
Captain in July 1812, served as Chief Engineer of the Army on the
Niagara frontier, winning a Brevet promotion to Major in June 1813 and
Lieutenant Colonel in September 1814 for his distinguished service at
Queenstown and the Battle of Plattsburgh. Totten was a Captain of
Engineers before most of the Civil War generals were born. He advanced
to full Major in 1818 and to full Lieutenant Colonel in 1828. With his
promotion to full Colonel in December 1838, Joseph Totten became
Chief Engineer of the Army and Chief Inspector at West Point. He held
both of these posts until his death in 1864, a period far longer than
any predecessor or successor. In the Mexican War he operated as
Winfield Scott’s chief engineer during the siege of Vera Cruz and was
brevetted Brigadier General, U.S. Army, for gallant and meritorious
conduct on March 29, 1847.
From its establishment in 1851 until 1858, and again in 1860-1864,
Totten was a member of the Lighthouse Board; he contributed signally to
the solution of several difficult problems of lighthouse construction,
notably for those at Seven-Foot Knoll near Baltimore and Minot's Ledge
near Cohasset, Massachusetts. During the years before the Civil War,
Totten was a prominent contributor to a number of areas of scientific
advancement, including the lighting of the navigational hazards of the
eastern seaboard, the investigation of the effect of the firing of newly
perfected heavy ordnance, and the study of harbors and defenses in New
York, Boston, and San Francisco. His reports laid out the fundamental
principles on the defense of the country’s entire seaboard. In
addition to his regular duties of maintaining harbor channels and
defenses and lighthouses, he was responsible for providing engineering
officers to the armies in the field and providing special supervision
for such projects as the massive Civil War defensive ring around the
nation’s capital which was never really challenged by the Confederacy
because of its strength. On March 3, 1863 the Corps of Topographical
Engineers was merged into the Corps of Engineers and Totten was promoted
to brigadier general and made the first overall Chief Engineer of the
United States.
Totten was a founding regent of the Smithsonian Institution in 1846,
a founding Incorporator of the National Academy of Science in 1863
and a member of many scientific associations, to some of which he made
valuable contributions. He was interested in natural science and was an
authority on the conchology of the northern coast conch of the United
States, publishing occasional papers, in which he described hitherto
unknown species. The Gemma Tottenii and the Succinea Tottenii
were so named in his honor. He also published papers on mineralogy. The
degree of A. M. was conferred on him by Brown University in 1829.
Following his sudden death from pneumonia while still on active duty in
Washington on April 22, 1864, Totten was posthumously brevetted Major
General, posted to the day before his death. General Totten was buried
in the Congressional Cemetery and there are at least three Fort Totten’s
named after him in Queens, New York City; Washington, D.C.; and North
Dakota. Here is a major appointment signed by President Millard
Fillmore, a fascinating, presidentially documented record of a Founding
Father of the Corps of Engineers, the Smithsonian Institute, the
National Academy of Sciences and a Steward of West Point.
Document Specifications:
Presidential
Appointment, Signed by Fillmore as President and the Acting Secretary of
the Treasury, 1 page folio on paper measuring 17" wide x 11" tall (440mm
x 280mm). Embossed with the pressed seal of the Treasury Department of
the United States and dated September 24, 1852, appointing Brevet
Brigadier General Joseph G. Totten a Member of the Lighthouse Board.
Very good, bold dark signature of Fillmore and an illegible signature
for the Acting Secretary of the Treasury. A few very minor stains and a
left margin tear not affecting printed document or signature.
Offered
by Berryhill & Sturgeon, Ltd. .................................
$ SOLD